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s. B. PEET.

Carriage-Spring. No. 25,439. Patented Sept; 13, 1859.

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N.PETERS. PHOTO-LITHDGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. 0 c

STEPHEN B. PEE'r,

PATENT cries.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CARRIAGE-SPRING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,439, dated September 13, 18 59.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN B. PEET, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Springs for WVheel-Carriages and other Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my ellipso-volute spring, and F ig. 2 is a top view of the same.

h/Iy invention has reference to the means of obtaining in ordinary carriages the advantages that result from the use of volute springs.

The volute spring it is well known is one of the most efficient springs in use, but the smallness of its base renders it diflicult to use it without some means of preventing it from swaying laterally to an injurious extent. In rail road cars, where the boxes of the axles slide up and down in guides, thesev prevent lateral strains upon the springs, and hence in cars there is no difiiculty in employing volute springs; but in ordinary wheel carriages for common roads, where the bolster above the spring is generally connected with the axletree by the spring alone, lateral strains are sustained wholly by the spring. The ordinary elliptic spring, which is now used to so great an extent, presents peculiar advantages for use in such carriages on account of the facility with which it can be secured and the resistance which it opposes to lateral strains from the fact that the plates of which it is com posed are presented edgewise thereto; but as its construction is such that the metal in it is subjected fiatwise to the weight of the load, it cannot sustain so great a load in proportion to its weight as the volute spring in which the metal is subjected edgewise to the strain of the load.

Now the object of my invention is to obtain the advantages resulting from the light weight and great resistance to direct strain of the volute spring with the facility of attachment and the resistance to lateral strains of the elliptic spring, and it consists in the combination of a volute coil with elliptic leaves in such manner that the two elements of the combination, when combined, constitute a carriage spring suitable for ordinary vehicles.

The spring represented in the accompanying drawing is an example of the embodiment of my invention in a practical construction. In it there are two elliptic leaves A and B, which are formed of plate steel and are hinged together at their extremities a, a. The space between the two elliptic leaves is traversed by a volute coil C whose bases rest in cups (Z (Z, secured upon the inner faces of the elliptic leaves. The form of volute coil which I prefer to use is that known as Rollins double volute spring as it affords a great extent of play; but single volute coils may be used if preferred for any reason, and if one is not sufficient two spring thus formed may be bolted fast to the axletree of a vehicle in the same manner as the ordinary elliptic spring; or the bolts may if desired be made to pass through the elliptic leaf and the flanges of the cups in which the volute coil rests, so that the same bolts secure the elements of the compound spring to each other and to the vehicle. Too great verticle expansion may if required be prevented by passing a bolt through the center of the volute coil and two or more volute coils are superimposed upon each other this bolt will act as a guide for them to prevent their accidental displacement. As the compression of the spring will cause it to traverse on the bolt, so that the extremity of the latter will project beyond the elliptic leaves of the spring, the extremity of the bolt should be received in a tubular socket formed in the axletree or in the bolster of the carriage as deemed best. In a compound spring of this description elliptic leaves may be made only of sufficient strength to sustain the volute coil in an erect position and withstand the lateral sway of the load, while the volute coil supports the greater part of the weight of the load. It thus combines the advantages of both forms of spring without requiring as much metal as the elliptic spring, while it can be applied to the vehicles with as great facility and can even be substituted for elliptic springs in vehicles already constructed without any change in their arsiderable diminution of the weight.

Having thus described the nature and object of my invention and one mode of embodying it in a practical form, I wish it to or more may be employed. The compound rangement or construction, and with a con-- through holes in the elliptic leaves, and if What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- A compound spring composed of a com- 15 bination of an elliptic leaf or leaves and a volute coil substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

STEPHEN B.- PEET.

Witnesses WV. WVIGHTMAN, W. L. BENNEM. 

